


Those uniforms sure have pockets

by Toinette93



Category: Star Trek: Enterprise
Genre: Allergies, Gen, I did research this but I'm still no medical doctor, Malcolm Reed Whump, Medical Inaccuracies, Missions Gone Wrong, Not Beta Read, Not based on drowning, Post Episode s01e12 Silent Enemy, References Episode: s01e06 Terra Nova, Rescue Missions, Will have to write some of that in November though, not a native speaker
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-19
Updated: 2020-09-26
Packaged: 2021-03-07 16:28:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 5,494
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26550664
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Toinette93/pseuds/Toinette93
Summary: "Trip found himself having to kill a few little beasties that seemed to think he was quite edible. Or a menace to their mating season or something. Hell, what did he know? He was an engineer, not an entomologist, and some of those things sure looked weird. If they weren’t that annoying, he might even have called them pretty."---Malcolm and Trip go testing some targetting sensors on an M-class planet. Some of the local fauna is less than friendly, and things go wrong very fast.ORI think Enterprise gave us a lot of information about their characters, and Malcolm in particular they never really did anything with afterwards. Also, I feel they don't seem to have as much problem with fauna and flora on landing parties as for example TOS did (for example, see TOS s02e09 The Apple. Or don't. Not the best episode, but it does have killer flowers). Anyhow, I decided to have some fun with both those things and here's the result
Relationships: Jonathan Archer & Charles "Trip" Tucker III, Jonathan Archer & Malcolm Reed, Malcolm Reed & Charles "Trip" Tucker III
Comments: 7
Kudos: 15





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Hey folks!  
> Welcome to this little fic of mine! Hope you enjoy it.  
> It's been a while since I've written a multi-chaptered thingy, and I'm not quite happy with it, but I hope you still derive some fun from it nonetheless.   
> It's entirely written, I'll edit and post between once a day and 3 times a week depending on how much time I manage to get.   
> Don't hesitate to come talk to me in the comment section!   
> Cheers and take care out there  
> LLAP  
> Toinette

The new phase cannons may have been efficient against those last aliens who had attacked the ship, stoping them from having to go back to Jupiter station so early in there voyages, but they were still far too often outgunned. No one felt this weakness more keenly than Lieutenant Malcolm Reed, who was responsible for defending the Enterprise. Ever since he’d managed, with Commander Tucker, the chief engineer, to install those cannons in under 48 hours under threat of an alien attack, he had worked to refine them. Some components of the targeting systems were still giving him trouble though. What he really needed was some in-atmosphere testing to figure out a few things. No real shooting needed, just focusing a beam of light towards a moving target in a suitably unpredictable environment to prepare for the chaos of an actual confrontation, especially should environmental controls malfunction on Enterprise.

So when they reached a Minshara-class planet with no trace of sentient life form but a large amount of insects and birds that would provide just the right type of unpredictable movement for the tests he had in mind, he took a day to draft a full test protocol and went to see the captain.

* * *

Archer, who had been amongst the first to go down on a landing to the planet, had just finished his lunch with Tucker. His chief engineer would have been quite happy to have gone too, and had made it known, somewhat loudly. Archer was shaking his head at his friend's antic when his doorbell chimed.

“Come in." The door opened, and in came Lieutenant Reed. "Ah Malcolm, please, at ease. What can I do for you lieutenant?”

Archer eyed his armory officer who did not seem to have relaxed all that much from him formal stance. The Englishman had a serious, determined expression on his face, as he passed him a PADD.

“A test-protocol for the weapons targeting sensors, captain. I’m still having trouble making them work when the atmosphere of the ship is not perfectly stable, which could well happen should the atmospheric controls be damaged during an attack. I think I may have found a way to solve the problem, but it will need some testing in appropriate conditions, sir.”

Archer looked over the proposal, which was well drafted, and seemed reasonable enough. Granted, the set of circumstances that would even make such a modification needed seemed somewhat far-fetched, and Archer could not help but think Reed really was a bit overzealous sometimes. But, after, all, paranoia was more or less in his job description, and Archer had to admit space had proved more hostile that he ever thought it would. Any improvement to their weapons was probably a good idea, however reluctant Archer may have been to be in command of something even remotely resembling a warship. And besides, the testing would only take half a day, surely, they had that amount of time to spare.

Still somewhat hesitant, Archer darted his gaze back up from the proposal to his armory officer. Reed seemed tense, not that he ever seemed to relax much in his captain’s presence, and there appeared to be some bags under his eyes. The weapons installation had been intense, and he did not seem to have cut down on work since then. Well, even if the planet was not exactly shore-leave material – the humid and slightly smelly atmosphere that also forbid the use of transporters not to mention the amount of annoying if innocuous insects flying around made sure of that – it might do the lieutenant some good to go dirt-side for a bit. Reed could probably use a hand in his tests, and Trip had been envious of the away-teams who had gone to the surface. Those two seemed to have worked together pretty well on the phase canons despite the initial disagreements, and some socializing definitely wouldn’t hurt their solitary tactical officer. Archer looked at Reed and said:

“The science teams are already using the shuttlepods today. They should be finished by 2000 hours ship time. Be ready for 0800 tomorrow to take a shuttlepod down to the planet. You’ll go with Commander Tucker. I’ll let him know. You’ll have seven hours.”

Reed gave a curt nod.

“Yes sir. Thank you sir.”


	2. Chapter 2

The next day at precisely 0800 hours, Commander Charles “Trip” Tucker III walked into the launch bay to board shuttlepod 1. Lieutenant Malcolm Reed was already there, getting his equipment into the pod.

“Morning, Malcolm.”

“Good morning commander.”

“T’Pol asked me to take a few extra scans of the atmosphere while going down, would you mind taking the helm?”

“Mmm?” Asked Malcolm, slightly distracted, tapping at his pockets, checking for its content. He had apparently found what he was looking for, because he made a satisfied grunt and turned back to his smirking commanding officer. “Oh, yes, of course, sir, no problem.” and he walked to the front of the cabin checking that his equipment was correctly latched and secured on the way, then sitting down for the pre-launch check-list.

While giving the appropriate answers to the list, and checking the scanners that he would be needing on the way down, Trip was smiling. He was wondering what Malcolm had in all those pockets. He knew he had a snack in one of them in case he got hungry, but he would not put it past the lieutenant to bring some hidden weapon on a trip to an uninhabited planet. He got his attention back on the task at hand as Reed was making the final check and asking permission for departure.

“You’re clear Lieutenant.” Answered Hoshi’s voice from the bridge. “Depressurising and opening launch bay doors.”

* * *

Half an hour later, they were on the planet. The humidity in the air and slight smell of decay all around them was not the most pleasant of feelings, but the vegetation of the swamp-like area they were in was lush and really quite beautiful.

They had to find a place that would be appropriate for the testing they needed to do. They needed somewhere less soggy, with firmer footing. That forest to the East looked promising. Scanning around, Malcolm confirmed the location of what looked like a suitable test site about an hour away from where they had landed, in a small clearing. They started to walk.

Trip noticed Malcolm seemed to stay clear of the more smelly, watery parts of their way, even if meant walking a bit longer.

“Not a huge fan of the smelly water, are you Malcolm?”

Malcolm looked surprised for a moment, as if lost in thought

“Oh, it really does stink, now, doesn’t it?”

“I bet y’a could use some of that nasal numbing agent that T’Pol’s using.”

“I most certainly would.”

After a while, they got used to the smell though, and then left the most marshy parts of the place to go on to walk under the large trees. There was vegetation everywhere and it was quite hard to make their way through what was essentially a jungle. There were noises of animals, and although they had been assured that there was nothing bigger than a cat around, Trip was slightly nervous with the amount of insects and weird-looking plants that he could see around. They actually had to cut their way through the vegetation a few timew, and even as small as it was, Malcolm’s equipment was getting pretty heavy on their shoulders when they finally got to a small clearing that was to be their testing site.

Once the equipment was out they started working, and though they were not going to blow anything up this time, Malcolm’s enthusiasm was palpable. His calculations were turning out to be mostly right, prompting Trip to say that he “would’ve made one fine engineer, Mal”. Reed was ensconced enough in his work that he did not even notice the nickname. Still, there was quite a bit of tweaking and precision work to be done.


	3. Chapter 3

After 4 hours of hard work, they were done. Trip’s snack had found its use, as Malcolm had not seemed to want to stop for lunch. They were packing up there equipment, as the sun was slowly starting its slow afternoon descent. The insects sure seemed to be getting more active after noon and Trip found himself having to kill a few little beasties that seemed to think he was quite edible. Or a menace to their mating season or something. Hell, what did he know? He was an engineer, not an entomologist, and some of those things sure looked weird. If they weren’t that annoying, he might even have called them pretty. But as it was, there were going to make the whole trek back to the shuttle a lot less pleasant than what it might have been.

Trip heard Malcolm swear. Well, seemed like the man had gotten bitten too. And some of those bites itched quite a bit. Damn, who would’ve thought the uptight lieutenant had such a vocabulary. Swore like a sailor – which made some now that Trip thought about it…. Jon Archer had mentioned Malcolm came from a Royal Navy family after all, but still.

“Y’a got bit by one o’those nasty critters, Malcolm?”

Trip shouted. Malcolm was on the other side of the clearing, checking they had not forgotten anything.

“Yes sir, I have.”

Even for Malcolm, that was a bit overly formal. Maybe he felt bad for swearing in front of a superior officer or some such nonsense.

“Oh, come on, Malcolm, call me Trip, there’s just the two of us here.”

To that there wasn’t any answer, and Trip gave a small laugh. Well that apparently didn’t deserve a response. Trip packed up the last few things, and went back to rejoin Reed, see if he needed anything else before they left. They really probably should get going. Malcolm was standing at the edge of the forrest, backpack on the floor next to him.

“Are ya ready, lieutenant?”, Trip said, genially, while walking towards him. He didn’t get any response.

“Malcolm?”

Reed seemed to wobble as he turned towards him, and his voice suddenly had a very hoarse, almost wheezing quality to it.

“Commander, I...”

Then the lieutenant started to slowly sag down along the tree, apparently unable to stop himself.

“Dammit!” said Trip, as he ran towards his shipmate. He was there in a couple of seconds. He helped Malcolm the rest of the way down. He was determined not to freak out, and he was really not prone to doing so, but the sight of the lieutenant’s swollen face looking at him with eyes that were slowly getting shut by the swelling of the eyelids and the sound of his laboured breath, desperately trying to catch some air against a closing down throat certainly did not help.

“I’ve got ya, Malcolm, I’ve got ya” said Trip, not quite sure what else to say. But the lieutenant was past hearing him.

Unconscious, but still breathing, not well, but still somewhat, that’s something, isn’t it? Trip was telling himself, as he tried his different pockets to find his communicator. Need to call Phlox. He hoped the doctor could do something, even from afar, because they were about 2 hours from any help, and that was a pretty optimistic estimate of how long it would take to get to the shuttlepod if he had to carry Malcom. There just wasn’t enough room where they were for a shuttle to land, which is why they had needed to walk in the first place. Two hours was a long time, and Trip was really not all that sure Malcolm had that long, if he kept not getting enough air in. He wasn’t even sure what had happened exactly. Was that insect responsible? Shit, that would be one stupid way do die for their armory officer. Trip was pretty sure Malcolm was destined to perish in some sort of explosion, going in a blaze of glory. Not killed by a stupid insect.

All, right, had finally found that damn communicator.

“Trip to Enterprise.”

“Enterprise here.” Answered Hoshi in a calm, level voice.

“Hoshi, get me Phlox, medical emergency, now.” Sensing the urgency, Hoshi did not beat around the bush.

“Yes, sir.”


	4. Chapter 4

The tensing up in Hoshi’s frame as she quickly keyed the relay code to sickbay was noticed by everyone on the bridge.

“Hoshi?” Archer asked.

“It was Commander Tucker, sir. Something must have happened to Lieutenant Reed. He said there was a medical emergency. I put him through to Phlox.”

“As soon as Phlox is done talking to Trip, get him on the com. I want to know what’s going on. Travis, make sure shuttlepod 2 is ready in case we need to go and pick them up.”

* * *

“Yeah, doc, he’s still breathing, but it doesn’t seem to be gettin any easier. Some parts of his face are startin to turn blue, and I’m pretty sure it ain’t a good sign.”

….

“He got bit by something I think, some sort of local insect, yeah.”

…..

“Yes, doc I’ll look.”

All right, Trip. He thought to himself. Find that epinephrine injector the doc’ was talking about. Said Malcolm was supposed to have one in one of his pockets. Hell, I had no idea the guy had allergies. Not to mention anything bad enough to have something like that with him all the time. Damn, those uniforms sure had a lot of pocket. Opening one pocket after the other on his unconscious shipmate, Trip was cursing under his breath. “Come on, keep on breathin lieutenant, your not allowed to die on me in such a darn stupid way.”

“There doc, got it. So what do I do with it?”

Following Phlox’s instruction, Trip gets the flat, boxy thing out, and presses him on lieutenant’s middle outer thigh.

“Is through the uniform fine?”

…

“Yes? Well, that’s good”

The needle got in, and Trip put the apparatus away. Now he just had to wait. Phlox had told him it should take effect in the next five minutes. Trip had a feeling those minutes were going to be pretty damn long.

“Hey there, Malcolm, just breathe, ya can do it. I don’t want to have ta resuscitate ya”

It was getting better. Trip was pretty sure it was getting better. The tremors that had started to go through the lieutenant’s legs were normal, Phlox had said, a common side-effect, the drug was working. The swelling of the throat did seem to be going down, and Trip’s finger’s on Malcolm’s wrist were feeling a less threadier heartbeat. It was working.

“Come on, Malcolm, just wake up. I wanna be sure you’re gonna be ok, don’t scare me like that.”

Trip had propped the lieutenant onto their backpack that he could breathe easier, not trusting the trees and other plants around not to cause some other reaction and make things worse. The insects seemed to have calmed down somewhat at least. The last testing Malcolm had been doing must have been what had bothered them. Trip glared at every little fly that dared come near. Not that it would do much good, but he had some pretty murderous urges against the damn things.

* * *

On the bridge the tension had gone up. Archer was pacing. Even if he didn’t know Reed very well, he was still one of his crew, and he didn’t like when one of his own was in danger, and he could do nothing about it. He’d listened to Phlox’s report about an insect bite being the most likely cause for what was happening to Reed. His answer to Archer’s question about the prognostic hadn’t exactly been reassuring either.

“Lieutenant Reed’s condition is serious, but Commander Tucker took the appropriate actions as fast as he could, and provided the adrenaline works, the lieutenant should make a full recovery. We’ll know more in 15 minutes.”

Archer had almost yelled at him about the imprecision of his scan, Phlox had told him the insects were largely innocuous to humans.

“Those were based on preliminary scans. And to most humans, they are. The lieutenant’s allergy treatments were up to date, this was quite unpredictable.”

The captain had had to admit his chief medical officer wasn’t at fault. Nobody really was, although he was responsible for sending his men there, this wasn’t exactly a foreseeable risk. He’d just have to wait. He hated being unable to do anything. So he paced. Looking around, he saw Hoshi’s tense demeanour. Amongst them, she probably knew Malcolm best, if only because of the mission he had given her to prepare for the armory officer’s birthday. T’Pol looked as calm as ever, but she was intently looking at her display, analysing all the data they had on the planet, looking for information they might have overlooked earlier. Mayweather had gone from the bridge, to prep a shuttlepod, and even his usually bright demeanour had been quite subdued.

* * *

Malcolm could hear… something? He wasn’t sure what. He was gulping air in. He didn’t seem to be able to get enough. His neck and his face felt like it was burning, and there was a sharp pain in his abdomen. He was trembling, couldn’t stop himself. His heart was racing, a low, deep feeling of dread blanketing everything, barely controllable. A voice. What he could hear was a voice. Calling his name he thought? He tried to open his eyes. I can’t see. He thought. I can’t **see**. He knew the fear was starting to morph into panic, he just couldn’t stop it. He tried to move his hands to his face, to try and understand what was going on, but he couldn’t quite control his arms. But there was something. He wasn’t quite sure… There was something, holding him down. He needed to… He tried to move, trashing around, but something was holding him down. 


	5. Chapter 5

“Lieutenant, keep still, you’re gonna hurt yourself, Malcolm! Please.”

Trip was holding down Malcolm’s hands which threatened to claw at his face. The engineer could feel Reed panicking and didn’t know what to do. Finally there was some recognition in Reed’s voice, and his mumblings started to actually make some sense.

“Trip?”

“Yeah, Mal, it’s me, I’m here. Don’t move so much, lieutenant, you’re gonna be fine, I’ll get you back to the ship.” He promised, although as for that last part, he was not exactly sure how he was going to do it.

“I can’t see.”

“Yeah, I know. Phlox says it’s probably cause you’re eyelids are so swollen. It’s only temporary though. I gave you that adrenaline shot, just as he told me to do. That’s why ya’re trembling as well. Phlox says you’re going to be ok. Just stay still for a bit all right?”

Reed nodded, but the fear was still visible on his swollen face. Trip let go of his hands, wincing internally when his shipmate immediately crossed them protectively around himself. His own hands hovered for a bit around Reed’s shoulder, then he shook his head and said he was going to call Phlox again to keep him updated.

* * *

After talking Commander Tucker through as many scan as he could think of, Phlox had called the bridge, and made his report to a visibly nervous captain and a perfectly serene-looking Vulcan first officer.

“So, doctor, what does it look like?”

“The shot the Commander gave Lieutenant Reed has taken effect. But this insect’s venom seems to to degrade very slowly. I’ll need to start working on an antidote right away, and we need to get the lieutenant back to the ship as fast as possible.”

“How long do we have?”

“Difficult to say. But I wouldn’t like him to be without help for more than two hours.”

“That’s not a very wide margin. They took nearly as long on the way in.”

“Can Lieutenant Reed walk?” asked T’Pol, who had remained silent so far.

“I suppose he should be able to, with some help. The lack of sight won’t make it easy though.”

“You’re telling me he’s blind?”

“Only temporarily, I assure you. From swelling it the eyelids. It might take a few hours to resolve itself.”

“As you pointed out, doctor.” answered T’Pol “we might not have a few hours.”

“Alright, so we need to get him back to the shuttle and then to the ship. Is Trip in any danger from the insects that bit Reed.”

“From that one, no. In most humans, it wouldn’t be any worst than getting stung by say, a wasp. Painful, certainly, but not dangerous. We’ve had landing parties for 2 days without any trouble, provided it was somewhere without that many insects, but they don’t appear to be particularly aggressive in general.”

“Looking at the data commander Tucker sent us.” added T’Pol “I think it likely the frequency emitted by the weapon testing apparatus while powering down might have been the cause of the attack.”

Archer nodded, but his gaze was focused downward, thinking. His decision made he looked at his first officer and chief medical officer:

“Ok. This is what we’re going to do. I’ll take a shuttlepod down to the surface with 2 pilots and someone from medical, Phlox?”

“I’ll need to stay here to prepare an antidote. Take Ensign Cutler, captain. She’s got a background in entomology if I’m not mistaken.”

“All right. T’Pol, who’s on beginning of shift amongst our helmsmen? I think Mayweather has been on for quite a while hasn’t he?”

“He has. I would recommand you take Ensign Hutchinson and Crewman Rossi.” Archer nodded, and T’Pol continued.

“But it will take too long to get all the way to Commander Tucker and Lieutenant Reed and back.”

“I know that, Subcommander. But we’ll meet them halfway. They have to cross a jungle with some fairly treacherous terrain on the way, and I’can’t see Trip and Malcolm doing it alone. Sensors work fine there, right?”

“We have not had any instance of sensor malfunction on this planet as of now.”

“That’s good. Phlox?”

“Yes, it does seem to be a sound plan, captain.”

“Good. Start working on the antidote and send Cutler to the launch bay. T’Pol, get Rossi and Hutchison to prep the shuttlepod. I’ll call Trip and then I’ll meet them there.”

Phlox nodded and left the room. T’Pol looked ready to argue. Archer didn’t let her.

“I’m going. You’ll be in command. The ship isn’t in any risk, I have been to the planet before, and Malcolm is my officer, he’s my responsibility.”

Recognizing a lost cause when she saw one, T’Pol gave a minute nod and left the room. Archer bent down to his communication console and asked:

“Hoshi. Get me commander Tucker.”

“Aye, sir.”


	6. Chapter 6

“Aye, Cap’n. We’ll do our best. Tucker out.” Trip turned to the lieutenant who had had his head down during the engineer’s whole exchange with Jonathan Archer.

“You’ve heard the cap’n, Malcolm. We need to get moving. Do you think you can walk?”

Even if he understood the captain’s decision, Trip had his doubts as to whether it was doable. Malcolm had no trouble breathing anymore, as far as Trip could tell, but he was still shaky and blind. Not the best condition for a long walk through a jungle. Still, as he bent down to pick up their equipment, that he’d be carrying back, he heard his shipmate answer.

“Yes, sir. I’m fine, sir.”

If Malcolm had been able to see it, Trip would have rolled his eyes at the obvious lie. As it was, he did not see the point of the gesture. He put their equipment on his back, and held his hand to Reed. Then remembering the man could not actually see it, he grabbed his arm:

“Come on, let’s get you up.”

Getting one of Malcolm’s hand on his own shoulder, Trip managed to get him up, and although the lieutenant’s legs were trembling slightly still, and the red angry-looking skin must have felt painful, they managed to get moving. The insects were still hovering around, annoying and a potential menace. Trip looked in front of him in worry. A lot of Malcolm’s weight was on his shoulder, and it was going to be a long way. He started to talk, mixing in encouragements and indications as to the terrain to the temporarily blind man.

* * *

Malcolm concentrated on Tucker’s voice, using its rhythm and low drawl to get one feet in front of the other and keep walking. He hated not being able to see. His imagination kept on producing imaginary obstacles in front of him, his every instincts screaming at him to stop and look where he was going.

Despite the commander’s best efforts, Malcolm kept on bumping into things, and it bloody hurt. Nonetheless, he kept going. He hated that his stupid allergies were causing everyone so much trouble and the radiating worry that he could feel coming from Tucker even without seeing him did not help his own fear that the inability to breathe would return. That had been truly terrifying. He’d had bad reactions before but never that severe and that fast. He stumbled. Dammit.

“Malcolm, are you ok?”

Tucker’s arm had stopped him from falling.

“I’m fine. Let’s keep going.”

“A’right. Now careful lieutenant, there’s a bit of a slope there, hang on….” Malcolm kept on listening and walking. “There ‘ya go. We’re reaching the jungly part of the road there. Hold on to me, I have to cut a few branches. There, that’s it. Come on….” The humidity was causing Malcolm to sweat, his swollen skin breaking in places from the friction of his uniform. There were branches and vegetation everywhere, scratching, smelling, assaulting his senses. He’d thought his sight would have been back by now, but it wasn’t. He felt liked they’d walked for hours but it definitely couldn’t have been that long. He felt exhausted. Despite the discomfort, the pain, the fear, he could have fallen asleep right there and then. “Careful, lieutenant, it’s a bit slippery there, don’t ya fall down” Malcolm forced himself into focus. If it was slippery, there could be water nearby, and he was **not** going to drown. “Come on, keep going, help’s on the way.” Tucker sounded tired as well. He must have been carrying most of his weight.

Then there were more hands on him, pushing him down. He tried to push them off. He needed to keep going.

“Malcolm, it’s ok, let Ensign Cutler look you over.”

That was Captain Archer. They’d made it to the rendez-vous point.

“Yes sir.” Malcolm said, and he stopped trying to struggle. He heard the characteristic sound of a medical scanner being whirred at him, and felt the consecutive hiss of several hyposprays on his skin. His heart started beating faster and his legs trembled, but his head cleared, and finally, he could open his eyes.

* * *

  
  


They got Malcolm back to the shuttle. Archer and Tucker carried him, as it was quite obvious at that point he was getting too exhausted to walk. He’d tried to protest, but Cutler hadn’t let him. Carrying him in a jungle wasn’t easy, but Archer was surprised as how light his armory officer comparatively was. For all his combat capabilities, Reed really wasn’t taller than T’Pol, and with a human bone density, he was actually lighter than her.

When they got to the shuttlepods, Rossi and Hutchinson had them ready for departure. Rossi took the armory the equipment they had carried back from the test site and left with shuttlepod 1, while Trip Tucker and Jonathan Archer carried their shipmate inside. Probably prompted by whatever Cutler had injected him with, Reed had actually fallen asleep, and barely moved when the captain and chief engineer laid him down in the pod. They got a communication from Phlox as they took off, Archer sitting in the co-pilot seat, Trip drowsing in the back. He had an antidote.


	7. Chapter 7

Lieutenant Malcolm Reed woke up in sickbay. The first thing he noticed, was the absence of pain. He opened his eyes, slowly. He could see just fine. Not that there was much _to_ see. The ceiling in sickbay wasn’t any more interesting that anywhere else on the ship. Although it seemed like he had been sleeping a while, he still felt somewhat tired, but apart from that everything seemed to be in working order. His hands, when he looked at them, were perfectly normal, and there was only a plaster where he had initially been stung. He thought he remembered meeting Captain Archer in the forrest, but at that point, his recollection had already started to get quite blurry and after that, there were absent. He wasn’t quite sure how he’d gotten back to Enterprise, but he obviously had. He barely had time to start wondering about that, however, when the ship’s Denobulan CMO came in.

“Ah, Lieutenant Reed, good to see you awake. How are you feeling, hmm?”

“I’m fine, doctor.”

“No pain, nausea, feelings of anxiety, anything of the sort?” He asked, checking readings on his scanner.

“No, everything seems to be working fine. I suppose I have you to thank for it?”

“Well, I found an antidote to the venom, but Commander Tucker is the one who saved your life by injecting you with epinephrine to begin with. And Captain Archer and Ensign Cutler got you back to the shuttlepod.”

So he was remembering right. His captain had carried him back to safety, again. He was the one supposed to protect Captain Archer, not the other way around. Seemed like his body was intent on betraying him however.

“Well, thank you, doctor. Is everyone all right?”

“Very much so, no one else was harmed.”

When can I get back on duty?” Malcolm asked.

“Hum, let’s see. I’d like to keep you here for a couple more hours to make sure everything is in order, then I’ll release you to quarters. You should be fit for duty again tomorrow afternoon.”

That was longer than he would have hoped, but still acceptable, so he did not say anything.

“Captain Archer wanted to be told when you were awake, I’ll comm him.”

  
  


A few minutes later, Archer was there. Reed sat at attention as he came in. Archer took a moment to wonder how exactly his armory officer managed to look that formal while being in pyjamas in bed then said:

“At ease, lieutenant.”

He walked to the bed smiling, but the lieutenant still looked distinctly uncomfortable in his presence.

“Glad to see you’re feeling better, lieutenant.”

“Thank you sir. Dr Phlox says I can be back on duty tomorrow afternoon, sir, you’ll have you my report on the weapons improvement tomorrow night.”

“Don’t overdo it, Malcolm. It can wait a few days. Trip tells me the results looked pretty promising.”

“They did, captain. I believe the precision of the targeting scanner will be improved even outside of unstable atmospheric conditions.”

“That’s good news, lieutenant. I’ll let you rest, and you can tell me all about it when you’re back on your feet. Get better, Malcolm.”

“Yes, sir.”

Archer left, feeling a bit dissatisfied with the conversation, which was quite common for him whenever he interacted with Malcolm. Reed had seemed as uncomfortable as ever, and Archer felt he hadn’t managed to convey that he was just relieved his armory officer was alive and well, and by the end, had even felt a bit irritated at the man, which he knew was unfair. Well, Reed was a competent officer, and maybe he should leave it at that.

  
  


A few days later in the mess hall, Trip and Malcolm were sitting at the same table. The conversation, that had been running on the installation of the weapons update was slowing down.

“Hey, Malcolm, I… I wanted to say, I’m glad you made it out alright.”

“Well, I have to thank you for it, commander.”

Trip shrugged. He had been nearly too late. If he had known earlier he would have reacted faster. At least now he knew, and the possibility of that kind of allergic reactions, which had become extremely rare on Earth with the efficiency of de-sensitisation, had been integrated to first-aid training for landing parties. But he knew the image of his shipmate gasping for air was not one he was likely to forget anytime sure. And he would bet Malcolm wouldn’t forget either. Trip shook his head.

“Now, Malcolm. What do you recon we should show for movie night next week?”

“Well, commander, if you’re asking me, I’d say a departure from Westerns would be a good chance of pace. If you absolutely insist on classics, I could recommend going back to the very early day of filming. I’d recommend Metropolis.”

“I bet it has explosions...”

“As a matter of fact it does. Silent ones. Quite appropriate for a show in a space-faring vessel, don’t you think?”

  
  



End file.
